This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9B project to build the Barclays Center arena and 15-16 towers at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake going forward. As of 2018, after the arena and four towers were built, Greenland will own 95% of future construction.

Gambling first asked about the Nassau Coliseum. Ratner responded with his keywords: "gorgeous arena... 30 million cars every year... entertainment [for everybody]... I think it will rival Barclays in both its success and its beauty."

"Speaking of Barclays, it's only been around for one year, and it seems as though it's been around forever," enthused Gambling.

"It's been a remarkable year," responded Ratner, noting that for the first half of the year, the arena led the U.S. in concert/family show revenue and was second in the world to the O2 in London, which has no anchor sports team and thus more open nights.

Would the full reopening of Madison Square Garden, which has been under renovation, have an effect?

No, said Ratner. "It's good healthy competition for both of us."

Well, it might.

"What is New York City real estate like?" asked Gambling.

"It has its ups and down, it's in an upswing," Ratner said. "Residential: there's almost no vacancy in the rental market, the condo market's come back, and the office market's still pretty strong."

That said, he has no plans to build the Atlantic Yards office tower.

"Are you concerned about post-Bloomberg for the city of New York?" Gambling asked.

"Well, I think we all are concerned about post-Bloomberg," Ratner responded. "The mayor's done an excellent job in so many different kinds of ways, ways a lot of us, y'know, almost don't know, whether it be housing or whether it be--even the financial aspects of the city. For 12 years, very few of us have even had to worry about the fact that our city's been in great financial shape, despite a recession, we've never had issues with balanced budgets, and so on. So he's done a great job. I think, y'know, either candidate will get a good job done again. But transition's always difficult. No matter how good we think the next mayor'll be, it's never easy to go through a transition. So all of us have anxiety. Listen, when Giuliani left, and Bloomberg won, we all had anxiety too. So I think that's the nature of elections and change. So hopefully--I'm confident that, whoever it'll be, the city'll still be here, and they'll do a good job. I know both of the candidates and think either will come out fine."

"The arena not only blossomed, it's gone crazy, it's unbelievable," said Claman, citing the awards: Sports Facility of the Year, Best New Major Concert Venue, etc.

"Everybody's flocking to this thing, but perhaps people outside New York do not know"--her tone gained an air of petulant disbelief--"what a fight you had to wage against people all around the area of Brooklyn and suddenly they're the ones attending events."

"Absolutely," interjected Ratner.

"It always goes that way," Claman declared. "Does it amaze you?"

"We thought it would do well, I didn't think it would do quite this well," Ratner replied. "It has something for everybody... first, the programming is really important...people who work there... architecture... we love the patrons... the food."

Ratner math

He cited "2000 jobs, people working there right now, 80% from Brooklyn, 35% from housing projects." No one asks how much they work per week and how much they get paid.

How much of the Brooklyn population attended at least one event?

Ratner did some math, citing 2.1 million attendees, and 2.8 million people from Brooklyn. (Actually, it's closer to 2.5 million.) "I'll bet you at least half," he said.

No way. It's unlikely that half of those entering the arena are Brooklynites--after all, 36.9% of weekeday Nets fans and 34.5% of weekend Nets fans go back to Brooklyn. And given that many of those going are season ticket holders--and the arena's rather expensive--there's no way half of the population of Brooklyn has visited the arena

"Lawsuits, protests, pickets, all kinds of things," Claman continued. "They didn't want it here. And in the meantime, this was an area that was kind of down and out."

Love those declarative statements.

The NBA All-Star Game

"So this is a perfect example where this kind of thing can work to the advantage of--and then the big news, you guys get to be part of the NBA All-Star game," she continued. "How'd you land that?

"The answer is both us and the Garden applied for it," Ratner responded, then had a lot of trouble with the term "Solomonic": "So it's kind of one of those salam-ic, solom-type decisions, split it down the middle."

Nassau Coliseum

Discussing the Nassau Coliseum, Ratner said that Jay-Z will perform there before it closes, and presumably after the revamp.

"I bet you, when we get this open, we'll get [Barbra] Streisand," he added, citing the Brooklyn artist who played in the first month of the Barclays Center.

Claman asked how many jobs there'd be in Nassau.

Close to 2000, Rather responded, then added some gibberish: "The employment situation, particularly for a worker who is available to work in an arena, there aren't a lot of jobs around, still, so it's really good."

While that's part of the lawsuit, more prominent are claims of racial discrimination and retaliation, with black employees claiming repeated abuse by white supervisors, preferential treatment toward Hispanic colleagues, and retaliation in response to complaints.

Two individual supervisors, for example, are charged with referring to black employees as “black motherfucker,” “dumb black bitch,” “black monkey,” “piece of shit” and “nigger.”

Two have referred to an employee blind in one eye as “cyclops,” and “the one-eyed guy,” and an employee with a nose disorder as “the nose guy.”

There's been no official response yet though arena spokesman Barry Baum told the Daily News they, but take “allegations of this kind very seriously” and have "a zero tolerance policy for…

To supporters of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, it's a long-awaited plan for long-overlooked land. "The Atlantic Yards area has been available for any developer in America for over 100 years,” declared Borough President Marty Markowitz at a 5/26/05 City Council hearing.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, mused on 11/15/05 to WNYC's Brian Lehrer, “Isn’t it interesting that these railyards have sat for decades and decades and decades, and no one has done a thing about them.” Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco, in a 12/19/04 New York Times article ("In a War of Words, One Has the Power to Wound") described the railyards as "an empty scar dividing the community."

But why exactly has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard never been developed? Do public officials have some responsibility?

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Community Update meeting June 14, held at 55 Hanson Place, addressed multiple issues, including delays in the project, a new detente with project neighbors,concerns about traffic congestion, upcoming sewer work and demolitions, and an explanation of how high winds caused debris to fly off the under-construction 38 Sixth Avenue building. I'll have more coverage.
Security issues came up several times at the meeting.
Wayne Bailey, a resident who regularly takes photos and videos (that I often use) of construction/operations issues that impact residents, asked representatives of Tishman Construction if the security guard at the sites they're building works for them.
After Tishman Senior VP Eric Reid said yes, Bailey asked why a guard told him not to shoot video of the site, even though he was on a public street.

"I will address it with principals for that security firm," Reid said.
Forest City Ratner executive Ashley Cotton, the …

This graphic, posted in January 2018, is post-dated to stay at the top of the blog. It will be updated as announced configurations change and buildings launch. Note the unbuilt B1 and the proposed shift in bulk to the unbuilt Site 5.

The August 2014 tentative configurations proposed by developer Greenland Forest City Partners will change. The project is already well behind that tentative timetable.

How many people are expected?

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has a projected 6,430 apartments housing 2.1 persons per unit (as per Chapter 4 of the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement), which would mean 13,503 new residents, with 1,890 among them in low-income affordable rentals, and 2,835 in moderate- and middle-income affordable rentals.

That leaves 8,778 people in market-rate rentals and condos, though let's call it 8,358 after subtracting 420 who may live in 200 promised below-market condos. So that's 5,145 in below-market units, though many of them won't be so cheap.

There are obituary notices in the Bowling Green Daily News and the Wichita Eagle, which state:
He was born in Wichita, KS where he attended public Schools and Wichita State University. He lived for many years in Brooklyn, NY, and was employed as a legal assistant. David's hobby was cartography and had an avid interest in Mass Transit Systems of the world. David was predeceased by his father, Kenneth E. Sheets. He is survived by his mother, Wilma Smith, step-brother, Billy Ray Smith and his wife, Jane all of Bowling Green; step-sister, Ellen Smith Alexander and her husband, Jerry of Bella Vista, AR; several cousins and step-nieces and step-nephews also survive. Memorial Services will be on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 1:00 pm with visitation from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday at Johnson-Vaughn-Phe…

Notably, a lease valued at $40 million "upfront to lease up to 43 acres over 49 years... seems like a good deal on rent for the state-controlled property." Also, the Long Island Rail Road will expand service to Belmont.

That indicates public support for an arena widely described as "privately financed," but how much? We don't know yet, but some more details--or at least questions--have emerged.

An Aqueduct comparable?

Well, we don't know what the other bid was, and there aren't exactly parcels that large offering direct comparables.

But consider: Genting New York LLC in September 2010 was granted a franchise to operate a video lottery terminal under a 30 year lease on 67 acres at Aqueduct Park (as noted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo).

At right is a photo of a poster spotted in Hasidic Williamsburg right. Clearly there's an event scheduled at the Barclays Center aimed at the Haredi Jewish community (strict Orthodox Jews who reject secular culture), but the lack of English text makes it cryptic.

The website Matzav.com explains, Protest Against Israeli Draft of Bnei Yeshiva Rescheduled for Barclays Center:
A large asifa to protest the drafting of bnei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel into the Israeli army that had been set to take place this month will instead be held on Sunday, 17 Sivan/June 11, at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, NY.
So attendees at a big gathering will protest an apparent change of policy that will make it much more difficult for traditional Orthodox Jewish students--both Hasidic (who follow a rebbe) and non-Hasidic (who don't)--to get deferments from the draft. Comments on the Yeshiva World website explain some of the debate.